The South African Indian Congress

1. The South African Indian Congress is, as stated in the memorandum submitted to the late Mr. Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary-General of the United Nations, on his visit to South Africa, the major political organisation of the approximately 600,000 people of Indian origin in South Africa.

The South African Indian Congress

1. The South African Indian Congress is, as stated in the memorandum submitted to the late Mr. Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary-General of the United Nations, on his visit to South Africa, the major political organisation of the approximately 600,000 people of Indian origin in South Africa.

2. In pursuance of its policy and programme of fighting against the racialist policies of the South African Government, the South African Indian Congress in 1947, through the Dadoo-Xuma-Naicker Pact, entered into cooperation with the African National Congress.

In 1952 the African National Congress and the South African Indian Congress launched the historic Defiance Campaign against Unjust Laws as a result of which Africans and Indians went to prison demonstrating their opposition to the tyrannical laws which were being enacted by the Nationalist Government of Dr. Malan.

3. The South African Indian Congress, as a result of the adoption of the Freedom Charter by the Congress of the People sponsored by the African National Congress, amended its constitution to make the Charter part of its aims and objects.

Thus the South African Indian Congress, as well as the South African Coloured People's Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats (an organisation of progressive whites which has now been banned by the South African Government) and the South African Congress of Trade Unions are fully committed to the Freedom Charter under the leadership of the African National Congress.

4. On this basis the South African Indian Congress continued to undertake jointly with the African National Congress and other organisations, further campaigns which followed the Congress of the People.

Many of its leaders were involved in the Treason Trial, arrested and detained under the Emergency Laws in 1960 and banned under the Suppression of Communism Act.

5. One of the major tasks of the South African Indian Congress has been in the forefront of the resistance of the Indian and non-white people against the Group Areas Act of 1950. The application of this inhuman measure whereby Indians are compulsorily evicted from their hearth and homes to live in separate areas or ghettos set aside for them on open veld outside of and miles away from the cities and industries, cuts them off completely from the mainstream of social and economic life.

6. The South African Indian Congress and its constituent bodies, the Natal Indian Congress and the Transvaal Indian Congress, have suffered heavy casualties as a result of the repressive measures of the Government. In terms of the provisions of the Suppression of Communism Act of 1950 and the General Laws Amendment Acts of 1962 and 1963, most of the officials and leading members of the organisation have been banned, charged with sabotage, placed under house arrest or put into detention.

The South African Indian Congress has not yet been formally declared unlawful, as was the African National Congress. But this makes little difference. As a result of the restrictive orders served upon its officials and members, the South African Indian Congress is therefore as effectively muzzled as the African National Congress.

Submission of Matters Related to the Mandate of the Expert Group

7. In terms of the resolution adopted by the Security Council on 4th December 1963, the Group is mandated "to examine methods of resolving the present situation through full, peaceful and orderly application of human rights and fundamental freedoms to all inhabitants of the territory as a whole, regardless of race, colour or creed, and to consider what part the United Nations might play in the achievement of that end."

In respect of this the South African Indian Congress wishes to make the following submissions:

(a) The application of human rights and fundamental freedoms can only be achieved through the establishment of a democratic State ensuring fully elective institutions on the basis of adult franchise of one-man-one-vote. In this respect the African National Congress, the South African Indian Congress and other organisations of the Congress movement stand for the translation into reality of the principles of the Freedom Charter.

The Maritzburg All-in African Conference of March 1961, representing almost the entire African population, called for a fully representative National Convention, elected by all South Africans irrespective of colour, to frame a democratic constitution for the country.

This just and practical demand for the peaceful solution of the situation was completely ignored by the South African Government, and on the question of consultation with the African people, the Prime Minister, Dr. Verwoerd, made the following statement in the South African House of Assembly on January 25, 1963:

"Reduced to its simplest form the problem is nothing else than this: We want to keep South Africa white. 'Keeping it white' can only mean one thing, namely white domination. Not 'leadership,' not 'guidance,' but 'control', 'supremacy'".

(b) The South African Government has continuously and contemptuously defied all the decisions of the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council urging it to revise its racial policies and initiate measures "aimed at bringing racial harmony based on equality".

The extraordinary gravity of the situation was recognised by the United Nations General Assembly. Not only was the South African Government enforcing its apartheid policies by increasing internal repression and the use of brute force and leading the country into a state of violence, murder and racial war, but was also threatening the security of the African continent as a whole, and endangering international peace and security. By its flagrant violations of international obligations as a member State of the United Nations and by its flagrant defiance of United Nations decisions the South African Government directly threatens the existence of the United Nations and its peace-keeping functions.

It was in the light of this situation that the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 1761 on November 6, 1962, calling upon all member States to apply specific measures of sanctions as outlined in paragraph 4 of the same resolution.

Further, the General Assembly set up a special committee to keep South Africa's apartheid policies under review and requested the Security Council "to take appropriate measures, including sanctions" and to consider taking action under Article 6 of the Charter which provides for the expulsion of a member State which persistently violates the principles of the Charter.

At the request of the African countries, the Security Council met twice in 1963 to consider the South African question. At its first meeting it called for am embargo on the supply of arms, ammunition and military equipment to South Africa. In December, the Security Council decided to extend the sanction on arms supply by calling on all member States to ban the shipment of equipment and material required by South Africa for the domestic manufacture of arms and ammunition. Further, the Security Council added its influential voice to the world-wide demand for the release of political prisoners and for abandoning the trials of anti-apartheid leaders now taking place in the country. The 1963 session of the General Assembly added to its 1962 recommendation of specific measures for sanctions by calling upon member States to stop the supply of oil to South Africa. The report of the United Nations Special Committee on Apartheid of September 1963 went a step further in its recommendations to the Security Council and the General Assembly.

"The Special Committee feels that they should consider, without further delay, possible new measures in accordance with the Charter, which provides for stronger political, diplomatic and economic sanctions, suspension of rights and privileges of the Republic of South Africa as a member State, and expulsion from the United Nations and its specialised agencies."

(c) The decisions on sanctions are timely and in keeping with the growing world-wide demand for effective actions to bring the whole apartheid structure in South Africa to a speedy end.

By the time the 1963 session of the General Assembly met, forty-six countries had formally informed the Secretary-General that they were implementing the United Nations resolutions on sanctions, whilst another twenty-one countries had publicly declared at various times that they had not maintained or had ended their trade and political relations with South Africa. This ready response by well over half the countries of the world has brought the issue of sanctions well within the scope of realisation and implementation.

(d) However, despite this achievement, South Africa's foreign trade is expanding and its economy is going through what is claimed to be an unprecedented boom.

The fact that South Africa's economy had continued to flourish since the boycott decision is primarily due to the unwillingness of the imperialist States, particularly Britain and the United States of America, to comply with the decisions of the United Nations. They continued to trade and extend their capital investments and helped to build up the South African military machine by continuing to supply arms and equipment.

Between 1962 and 1963 Britain, the United States of America and the capitalist countries of Western Europe pushed up their exports to South Africa by well over a quarter, raising their share of South African import trade from 65.8 percent to 70 percent. They also continued to maintain their high volume of purchases of South African products, taking well over 60 percent of her exports. Between 1960 and 1963 there was an increase in American capital investment in South Africa from $ 590 million to $ 700 million.

Conclusions

8. Repeated appeals by the United Nations over the last ten years have been completely ignored by South Africa. No purpose can now be served by similar appeals since failure to take effective action only encourages South Africa to believe that it can with impunity ignore these appeals.

Nothing less than the most energetic enforcement of the sanctions resolution can have the desired effect and any delay in implementing it will have the effect of weakening the authority and prestige of the United Nations as an international force for peace, security and justice.

9. No solution of the South African situation is possible without the total abandonment of the racial policies of apartheid and no useful purpose can be served by entering into an examination of methods other than one of seeking the most direct ways and means of making the operative clause, paragraph 4, of the November 1962 resolution of the General Assembly enforceable.

The South African Government has made its stand clear. It does not even recognise the right of the United Nations to interfere in any way with its treatment of the non-white people and it rejects the idea that there is an alternative to apartheid.

The choice before the world was aptly put by Bishop Reeves, former Bishop of Johannesburg, in his speech before the Special Political Committee of the United Nations General Assembly in October 1963, in the following words:

"The choice is between effective international action and the probability of bloodshed on a vast scale in South Africa. And the choice cannot be evaded by maintaining that all that exists in South Africa is a form of government which many people find repugnant. That I suppose is true of many governments. But in South Africa there is a situation in which the majority of the inhabitants at this moment are living in a fully-fledged police State under a tyranny which is a flagrant contradiction of the basic principles of the Charter of the United Nations."

10. The main problem confronting the United Nations in securing the most resolute and energetic implementation and enforcement of sanctions by all member States is the deliberate refusal by the major imperialist Powers to comply with its resolutions on the pretence that these decisions are not "mandatory" on member States. In this way they, as the trading partners of South Africa, want to undermine the efforts of the large majority of countries which is carrying out these decisions.

It is imperative that adequate measures be taken to impel these Powers to abide by majority decisions and thereby be made to play their proper role on the crucial issue of South Africa on which hinges the future of the United Nations itself.

11. The situation in South Africa is deteriorating rapidly. Thousands of brave men and women are behind bars and many hundreds are facing severe sentences and even the maximum penalty of death for sabotage in the many trials now before the courts of the country. The Rivonia trial in which nine outstanding and recognised leaders of the overwhelming majority of the people are involved, is coming to an end and the verdict of the court in this case may well mark a turning point in South Africa's history - a turn for the worse leading to a bloody and violent conflict on an unprecedented scale.

This perilous situation calls for the most stringent action on a world-wide scale. South Africa must be quarantined, completely isolated in every sphere of international relationships, diplomatically, economically, socially and culturally, and steps taken for her exclusion from the United Nations and all international agencies and bodies. All traffic in arms and goods of all kinds must cease forthwith; all oil supplies must be cut off; a total ban must be placed on all ships and aircraft trading with her.

The South African Indian Congress, therefore, appeals to your Expert Group to request the Secretary-General that the Security Council be called upon to take immediate steps along these lines, in conformity with the United Nations resolutions of 1962 and 1963 and taking into consideration the recommendations of the Special Committee on Apartheid.

(Dr.) Y. M. Dadoo

Former President and Accredited Representative of the South African Indian Congress

London

March 6, 1964

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